Party Elites in the United States, 1984: Republican and Democratic Party Leaders (ICPSR 8617)

This dataset was designed to provide information on the
personal and political backgrounds, political attitudes, and relevant
behavior of party leaders. The data pertain to Democratic and
Republican party elites holding office during the election year of 1984
and include County and State Chairs, members of the Democratic and
Republican National Committees, and delegates to the 1984 National
Conventions. These data focus on the "representativeness" of the
party elites on a variety of dimensions and also permit a comparison of
party leaders from the local, state, and national organizational
levels. Special emphasis is placed on the presidential election, the
presidential nominations system, public policy issues current in the
1984 campaign, and the future of the political parties. In addition,
special note was taken of the views of women and minorities and the
problem of providing them with representation in the parties. The
question of whether their policy views and ideologies differed from
other political party elites was also explored. Specific variables
include characterization of respondent's political beliefs on the
liberal-conservative scale, length of time the respondent had been
active in the party, and the respondent's opinions on minorities in the
party, party unity, national- and local-level party strength, and party
loyalty. Respondents were also queried on attitudes toward important
national problems, defense spending, and inflation. In addition, their
opinions were elicited on controversial provisions instituted by their
parties and on the directions their parties should take in the future.
Demographic characteristics are supplied as well.

This dataset was designed to provide information on the
personal and political backgrounds, political attitudes, and relevant
behavior of party leaders. The data pertain to Democratic and
Republican party elites holding office during the election year of 1984
and include County and State Chairs, members of the Democratic and
Republican National Committees, and delegates to the 1984 National
Conventions. These data focus on the "representativeness" of the
party elites on a variety of dimensions and also permit a comparison of
party leaders from the local, state, and national organizational
levels. Special emphasis is placed on the presidential election, the
presidential nominations system, public policy issues current in the
1984 campaign, and the future of the political parties. In addition,
special note was taken of the views of women and minorities and the
problem of providing them with representation in the parties. The
question of whether their policy views and ideologies differed from
other political party elites was also explored. Specific variables
include characterization of respondent's political beliefs on the
liberal-conservative scale, length of time the respondent had been
active in the party, and the respondent's opinions on minorities in the
party, party unity, national- and local-level party strength, and party
loyalty. Respondents were also queried on attitudes toward important
national problems, defense spending, and inflation. In addition, their
opinions were elicited on controversial provisions instituted by their
parties and on the directions their parties should take in the future.
Demographic characteristics are supplied as well.

Access Notes

Data in this collection are available only to users at ICPSR member institutions.
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access to these data files.

Dataset(s)

Study Description

Citation

Jackson, John S. III, David Bositis, and Denise Baer. Party Elites in the United States, 1984: Republican and Democratic Party Leaders. ICPSR08617-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1988. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08617.v1

Universe:
All Democratic and Republican County Chairs, all Democratic
and Republican State Chairs, all National Convention delegates for both
parties, and all members of the Democratic and Republican National
Committees in 1984.

Data Type(s):
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

Certain variables have been recoded by ICPSR to protect
the anonymity of respondents.

Methodology

Sample:
A systematic random sampling scheme was employed to sample
the Democratic and Republican County Chairs and the National Convention
delegates for both parties. Questionnaires were mailed to all State
Chairs and all members of the Democratic and Republican National
Committees and the number of questionnaires returned constituted the
sample.